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  <div class="section" id="module-py_compile">
<span id="py-compile-compile-python-source-files"></span><h1>31.10. <a class="reference internal" href="#module-py_compile" title="py_compile: Generate byte-code files from Python source files."><tt class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">py_compile</span></tt></a> &#8212; Compile Python source files<a class="headerlink" href="#module-py_compile" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1>
<p id="index-0"><strong>Source code:</strong> <a class="reference external" href="http://hg.python.org/cpython/file/2.7/Lib/py_compile.py">Lib/py_compile.py</a></p>
<hr class="docutils" />
<p>The <a class="reference internal" href="#module-py_compile" title="py_compile: Generate byte-code files from Python source files."><tt class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">py_compile</span></tt></a> module provides a function to generate a byte-code file
from a source file, and another function used when the module source file is
invoked as a script.</p>
<p>Though not often needed, this function can be useful when installing modules for
shared use, especially if some of the users may not have permission to write the
byte-code cache files in the directory containing the source code.</p>
<dl class="exception">
<dt id="py_compile.PyCompileError">
<em class="property">exception </em><tt class="descclassname">py_compile.</tt><tt class="descname">PyCompileError</tt><a class="headerlink" href="#py_compile.PyCompileError" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Exception raised when an error occurs while attempting to compile the file.</p>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="function">
<dt id="py_compile.compile">
<tt class="descclassname">py_compile.</tt><tt class="descname">compile</tt><big>(</big><em>file</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>cfile</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>dfile</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>doraise</em><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#py_compile.compile" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Compile a source file to byte-code and write out the byte-code cache  file.  The
source code is loaded from the file name <em>file</em>.  The  byte-code is written to
<em>cfile</em>, which defaults to <em>file</em> <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">+</span></tt> <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'c'</span></tt> (<tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'o'</span></tt> if optimization is
enabled in the current interpreter).  If <em>dfile</em> is specified, it is used as the
name of the source file in error messages instead of <em>file</em>.  If <em>doraise</em> is
true, a <a class="reference internal" href="#py_compile.PyCompileError" title="py_compile.PyCompileError"><tt class="xref py py-exc docutils literal"><span class="pre">PyCompileError</span></tt></a> is raised when an error is encountered while
compiling <em>file</em>. If <em>doraise</em> is false (the default), an error string is
written to <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">sys.stderr</span></tt>, but no exception is raised.</p>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="function">
<dt id="py_compile.main">
<tt class="descclassname">py_compile.</tt><tt class="descname">main</tt><big>(</big><span class="optional">[</span><em>args</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#py_compile.main" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Compile several source files.  The files named in <em>args</em> (or on the command
line, if <em>args</em> is not specified) are compiled and the resulting bytecode is
cached in the normal manner.  This function does not search a directory
structure to locate source files; it only compiles files named explicitly.
If <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'-'</span></tt> is the only parameter in args, the list of files is taken from
standard input.</p>
<p class="versionchanged">
<span class="versionmodified">Changed in version 2.7: </span>Added support for <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">'-'</span></tt>.</p>
</dd></dl>

<p>When this module is run as a script, the <a class="reference internal" href="#py_compile.main" title="py_compile.main"><tt class="xref py py-func docutils literal"><span class="pre">main()</span></tt></a> is used to compile all the
files named on the command line.  The exit status is nonzero if one of the files
could not be compiled.</p>
<p class="versionchanged">
<span class="versionmodified">Changed in version 2.6: </span>Added the nonzero exit status when module is run as a script.</p>
<div class="admonition-see-also admonition seealso">
<p class="first admonition-title">See also</p>
<dl class="last docutils">
<dt>Module <a class="reference internal" href="compileall.html#module-compileall" title="compileall: Tools for byte-compiling all Python source files in a directory tree."><tt class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">compileall</span></tt></a></dt>
<dd>Utilities to compile all Python source files in a directory tree.</dd>
</dl>
</div>
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